New York speech (or “New Yorkese”) is, perhaps, not perfect English. “A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner” is a popular quote from comedian Jackie Mason. The Mason quote was printed in The New Yorker in 1988 and has been included in several books about New York City quotations.
Wikipedia: jackie Mason
Jackie Mason (born June 9, 1931) is an American stand-up comedian and film and television actor. He is ranked #63 on Comedy Central’s 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all-time.
Goolge Books
The New Yorker
Volume 64, Issues 29-37
1988
Pg. 57:
Nor is he (Jackie Mason—ed.) given to one-liners, although small jokes pop irrepressibly out of him when he is at ease offstage: “A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.”
Google Books
The Fourth—and by Far the Most Recent—637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said
By Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Atheneum
1990
Pg. ?:
474
A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.
Jackie Mason
Google Books
New York:
The Big Apple Quote Book
By Bob Blaisdell
Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
2011
Pg. 170:
A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner. —Jackie Mason
Google Books
The Little Red Book of New York Wisdom
By Former Mayor Ed Koch, with Gregg Stebben and Jason Katzman
New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing
2011
Pg. 183:
A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.
JACKIE MASON
NY Daily Quote
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Good English
“A person who speaks good English in New York sounds like a foreigner.”
Jackie Mason, quoted in New York: Capital of Photography
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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